Agenda item

Minutes

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 21 November 2012 (copy attached).

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 November 2012 were approved as an accurate record subject to ‘November’ being deleted on page one, item three.

 

Matters Arising

 

Queen’s Park Café – the Superintendent of Hampstead Heath briefed Members that all four café leases in the North London Open Spaces Division had been approved by the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Management Committee in May. The café operators had been written to and the Corporation’s expectations made clear regarding the use of staff uniforms, customer comment cards and mystery shopping. In response to a question the Superintendent confirmed that the lease for Queen’s Park Café had not yet been formally signed and that the operator had been a tenant-at-will for the past six months.

 

At a Member’s request, the Queen’s Park Residents’ Association’s dissatisfaction with the lack of a tender exercise for the Queen’s Park Café lease was noted in the minutes.

 

Tennis Courts – The Queen’s Park Manager advised he had spoken to the Tennis Coach and that the Coach had been given access to four courts. An advance in-person booking system had been implemented in February 2013 and this new system would be reviewed over the summer. In response to a question the Superintendent of Hampstead Heath said that the introduction of online booking was an aspiration that was subject to existing resources and would be considered further as part of the review of the current system over the summer.

 

In response to a question, the Queen’s Park Manager agreed to keep the current allocation of four courts for coaching/children and two courts for adults open to review given that this potentially restricted access for adults during the summer months.

 

Personal Trainers – In response to a question the Superintendent of Hampstead Heath confirmed that the latest legal advice was that the Corporation had no power to license personal trainers using the Park. He said that the Royal Parks were able to license personal trainers under a regulation that the Corporation of London did not possess. He agreed that it would be worthwhile for Members of the Committee to contact their local MP to raise their concerns. In the meantime the Queen’s Park Manager confirmed that staff were regularly briefed on the potential to use byelaws to prevent the attachment of exercise props to trees and railings, and that there was potential to publicise this in park literature.

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